“The Office” Ratings Up, But Unspectacular, for Series Finale

Update 2: Thursday’s “The Office” series finale delivered a 3.0 adults 18-49 rating with 5.7 million viewers, according to final broadcast data. The 8-9PM retrospective posted a 2.1 with 4.4 million viewers.

Update: The 9-10PM portion of “The Office” finale delivered a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating with 5.41 million viewers. The 8-9PM retrospective posted a 2.0 with 4.37 million. As noted in the overnight report, the finale number made for a season high in the demo and a notable improvement over last week’s number, but in pales in comparison to what the show delivered in its heyday.

Given the significance of his character–both for the show and for televised comedy at large–the spike for Steve Carell’s season seven departure from “The Office was surprisingly minimal.

Ratings have fallen greatly since then, so there was little reason to believe they would surge through the roof for Thursday’s series finale. No matter how influential and beloved “The Office” might have been, its finale simply did not feel like it would reach anything near “event” status.

Sure enough, ratings for the swan song episode were unspectacular. They will be at clear season high levels, but they will not land near the series apex (even with the post-Super Bowl episode excluded from consideration).

Granted, it is not as if competitive was anything less than fierce. In addition to opposition from “Grey’s Anatomy” and the first quarter of “Scandal,” the near-entirety of “The Office” was contested by the “American Idol” season finale.

According to TV Media Insights, Thursday’s 75-minute show delivered a 4.0 overnight metered market rating, which was up from last week’s 3.2 (that translated to a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating and 4.56 million viewers).

The one-hour retrospective that preceded the finale delivered a 3.4.

Adults 18-49 data for this week’s retrospective and finale episode will release at around 11:30.